GLG ETF breaks $500m barrier

By: William Clarke | 11 Jun 2012

Man Group has announced that its GLG Europe Plus Source ETF, launched in January 2011, has reached assets of $565m as of May 31 2012.

The news follows Man Group’s removal from the FTSE 100 following the index’s quarterly rebalancing last week. Man Group shares fell by 66% in the year to 6 June 2012, following concerns about the performance of the company’s flagship $20bn AHL fund.

The ETF, which tracks the long-only total return equity index Man GLG Europe Plus, created by Man Systematic Strategies (MSS), has outperformed the MSCI Europe by 2.1%.

Pierre Lagrange (pictured), co-founder of GLG said: “We started collecting trade ideas in 2005 at GLG, initially to monitor brokers and then to create strategies using this unique set of broker relationships. The hurdle rate for the brokers is to beat our internal stock pickers, who are very successful, which raises everyone’s game. We now run $1.25bn using this approach. It’s been great to see Sandy and Khalil grow it into a significant and innovative investment strategy.”

Ted Hood, CEO of Source, said: “I am delighted that our cooperation with Man Systematic Strategies has resulted in an ETF that has had broad market appeal. It reaffirms our belief that ETF investors appreciate access to value added strategies and not just plain vanilla beta.”

Khalil Mohammed and Sandy Rattray, co-managers of the strategy, said: “Source has provided an ideal platform for clients to invest in our strategy, using the five Authorised Participants to provide clear best execution, liquidity, transparency and cost effectiveness for clients.”